Camels are bumpers or buffers between a surface ship/submarine and a pier. Ship separators are bumpers or buffers between two ships, two submarines, or a ship and a submarine. Owing to the wide variety of pier constructions, hull sizes and shapes, and/or ship/submarine waterlines, camels and ship separators have traditionally been designed for specific locations and/or specific ship configurations. This means that a particular port must stock a number of different camels and ship separators to handle what typically is an ever changing pier occupancy. Obviously, this leads to increased port expenses. Furthermore, the transporting and changing of the camels and/or ship separators is time consuming, costly and dangerous owing to their size and weight.